My daughter's birthday invitation card

Hi all,

I haven't been able to post for ages. It is because of the busy-ness and also because I don't know why I couldn't log in my blog as well as the others on the Blogger over the past month.

Below is a birthday invitation card I made for my daughter. She is going to be 2 years old next month. Since she began to learn to speak, she has LOVED all the flying insects like butterflies, bees and ladybugs. She LOVE this card. Whenever she sees it, she says, 'mommy, my birthday'.

I cut the card and the card base out of the Just Because cartridge, at 7'' and 6'' respectively.
The lady bug was cut at 2''3/4 out of the Birthday Bash cartridge.
The present was cut at 1''3/4 out of the Sweet Treats cartridge.
The scalloped circle was cut at 1'1/4, also out of the Just Because.
The sentiment Celebrate today! is from My Pink Stamper Everyday Life stamp set.

Thank you all for looking and leaving comments.

A Happy Birthday Layout

Hi all,

I haven't been able to log in for ages. Hope all is well.

Today I want to share with you a layout I made for my daughter's 2 photos taken on her first birthday, about 5 months ago. I was inspired by a LO made by My Pink Stamper. However, since I do not have the cartridge that she used (Creative Memories Stork's Delivery), I used Celebrations instead. I am pleased with how it turned out.

The gift box was cut at 4''1/2,
The cupcake on the left at 2''1/2,
The one on the right at 3'',
The number 1 at 2 ''
The phrase at 6''
Paper: Basic Bazzil and DCWV
Punches: Fiskar Scallop and Martha Stewart Scallop Dot
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink

Oh, before I forget, how about  me entering this into a challenge at Getting Cricky's Simply Sunday Challenge: Sugar and Spice? She said it is up to us to interpret what she meant by "something sweet and spicy". I thought my LO is sweet and spicy LOL.

TFL.

Happy Valentine's Day - MPS blog hop Friday (February)

Hello,

Another interesting MPS blog hop!!! This time I can play along with Robyn and her design team's challenge by using black with my favorite color or colors!! I used red, white, and green with black. A note though: Almost all colors are my favourite ones LOL.

My project to enter is a simple Valentine Card. I cut the flower at 2'' out of Sweethearts cartridge. A brad was used as the center of the flower. Papertrey Ink dotted green ribbon was used was the stem and leaves. The sentiment is from an MPS stamp set. Martha Stewart punch was used.

TFL and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My second scrapbook page - BBTB2's challenge

I made this one for my American teacher's wife. They live in Florida. The teacher came to VN to train me and other teachers. When he flew back to the US, I bought his wife some silk for a long dress. It took her forever to choose a style and when it was done, they happily took photo of her in her new dress and sent it to me.

Luckily, Bitten By The Bug 2 is having a fence challenge. I pleasantly entered this LO.

This is how the layout turns out. I will print her pic and put it one the blank square in the middle later.

What I used and did on this LO:

- Cardstock: I used Bo Bunny Origins Collection Pack.
- The tree was cut at 53/4'' from Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I will put more leaves to it so that it has a spring or summer look.
- The fence was cut 21/2'' from Songbird cartridge.
- The vine and flower are from the same paper pack.
- I left some space on the right of the photo for her to write some journaling on on  her own. I used a piece of transparent vellum for this which can highlight the flower under it. Four brads helps fix the vellum and the paper under it together.
- Border and corner Martha Steward Punches were used for the yellow layer.

One more challenge

Hi everyone,

I am back after a long holiday. We celebrated Lunar New Year in Vietnam (called Tet). Sorry I forgot taking photos of the fully decorated peach tree. I put more cards, lucky envelops and twinkling lights on it.

The first thing I did when I could access the internet was to check my blog and My Pink Stamper to see what is going on. Robyn is having a challenge that asks participants to make something springy, something that makes you happy.

I have always wanted to make this layout. I saw a similar one from scrapbook.com. I basically kept the LO, but made it distinctive by changing/adding some decorative details This is also the first scrapbook I made using the paper from the US (I did try one once using the plain paper from here which turned out to be very simple, but I was happy with it). The journal is hidden behind the photo's purple mat. The photo is of my DD and me by a peach tree in blossoms inside a large and beautiful pagoda we paid a visit to on the 5th day of Tet. I really am pleased to look at the finished LO.

Recipe:
Cardstock: DCWV (for the phrases), Bo Bunny (for the rest)
Bo Bunny Stickers (for the accents)
Phrases cut at 1''1/2 using Songbird cartridge.




TFL

Yummy

There is another challenge at My Pink Stamper. Robyn this time asked everyone to make something that is SUPER YUMMY. I made this basket of ripe apples to enter the challenge and also for of my friends' son who is going through a recovery from an operation. The apples look yummy, don't they? :)

I cut the basket and the apples from Doodlecharms (2''3/4 and 1'' respectively). The grass is from Plantin Schoolbook. The avocado dotted ribbon is Papertrey Ink's and the adhesive ribbon on the basket is Sea Glass Paper Ribbon. I love this kind of ribbon since all I have to do is to cut it at the desired length, peel off the nonadhesive part and stick it to the place you want it to be on. The sentiment is from a My Pink Stamper stamp set.

TFL.

The Stylish Blogger Award

I am so very pleased that Olivia at My Hideaway and Mary at Handmade by Mary awarded me with The Stylish Blogger Award. I have used The Blogger for some months. Both the blog thing and paper crafting are new to me. I feel that I am still a beginner as the days go by. I learn something new everyday from everyone else. So, you know how I feel.

Thank you, Olivia and Mary.

I made this card to celebrate and to say thank you to all of the follower friends and visitors who have encouraged and supported me so far.

Sweethearts Cartridge, Matha border punch, Papertrey Ink ribbon and MPS stamp were used.

*In order to complete the requirements for this award I must tell 8 things that you probably don't know about me, so here it goes.

1. I have been a teacher of English for nearly 10 years. I love my job a lot. But now I am turning my passion to what-you-know-it-is :)

2. I was never a craft person. I never cut anything by myself. I even could not imagine I can make such cards and never thought there were such tools and machines to help ease crafting and make it a fun.

3. I had not even known what a blog is like until I discovered this wonderful world of paper crafting.

4. I used to spend some time studying in Hawaii. Took nice pics there. I hope I can scrapbook some of them with Life is a Beach cartridge. Still waiting for the ordered paper to reach me.

5. One more thing I have learned to do thanks to this new hobby is that I know how to bid on ebay lol. It is interesting to bid to the last minute and win what you like. Have won some cartridges at good prices from there.

6. I have a little cute daughter who especially loves reading even though she is 16 months now lol. She always holds a book in her hands, stares at it and whispers something that only she can understand lol

7. I enjoy making my daughter paper stuff. The next project is an alphabetical animal booklet and decorations for her 2nd birthday.

*Another part of receiving this award is to Pay it Forward to 8 more Stylish bloggers:

Following is a random list of those bloggers whose projects I love to look at.

Diana at http://dianescrafting.blogspot.com/
Diana at http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/
Karen at http://karenscricutcreations.blogspot.com/
Janet at http://ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
Minta at http://mintascreations.blogspot.com/
Sophia at http://aurorascraps.blogspot.com/
Katy at http://crafty-katy.blogspot.com/
Luong at http://kellysmemorycraft.blogspot.com/


Thank you all for looking.

My Pink Stamper birthday challenge

Robyn at The Pink Stamper is celebrating her 38th birthday by opening a challenge. Everyone is asked to make a birthday project. I always LOVE the challenges at her site since, as somebody said, her blog is full of inspiration. Every single project posted REALLY is terrific!!!

This card is my birthday wishes to her.

I was inspired by Cassie who made a similar card, but I modified it a little bit by using a different flower and arranging the flowers in my own way.

I used Walk in My Garden cartridge. The flowers and vase were cut at 3''. I embossed the vase with Roses embossing folder. The sentiment is from one of MPS stamp sets.

TFL.

Welcome baby card

Hi everyone,

I made this card for one of my friends' newborn baby. I wish the ordered Peachy Keen Stamp sets reached me so that I could use one of the cute faces for the baby.

The stork (cut at 3'') and the baby (at 1''3/4) are from New Arrival. Welcome Baby is from one of My Pink Stamper stamp sets. The border was cut with Martha Steward punch. The ribbon is from Papertrey Ink. I used Bazzil bling cardstock. I did emboss the hat and the cloth with Swiss Dots and Flower Fantasy embossing folders.

TFL.

A cat card

This is the first thing I made to hang on the tree I just made for the coming Lunar New Year (and for MPS challenge). This year is a cat year where I live. I like how it shows up, but I should have stamped the sentiment a little up high in the corner.

It is an A2 card. I cut the cat at 3'' out of the Create a Critter cartridge. The mat and the cat were cuttlebugged using Swiss Dots and D'vine Swirls embossing folders respectively. Martha Punch was used for the border of the mat. The ribbon is from Papertreyink.

TFL.

An amazing MPS challenge

The Pink Stamper is launching a very interesting challenge. The participants will have to hop from one of her PS designer's blog to another to find out the key words for the challenge. I hopped from her site to other 22 blogs on the hop trail. Exciting!

I love the projects made by her designer team and the participants.

Here is what I just finished and wanted to use for the challenge.

This is a branch of peach blossoms which are typical of spring and Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) in Vietnam where I live.

I cut a small dry branch from a dying tree. The flowers were hand-made. The yellow insides of the flowers (cut at 2'') are from Pagoda. I didn't use the flower there as it does not look very 'soft'. The long, narrow leaves (cut at 4''), which look like peach leaves, luckily can be found on Plantin Schoolbook. I used the italic feature.

This is a close-up

I will add more flowers and leaves + hang cards (with MPS stamps on, of course) and lucky envelops and twinkling lights on it. It will then be a great decoration for the upcoming Tet (in about 2 weeks).

TFL

Two birthday cards

I made these two cards for 2 friends of mine's daughters. One likes pandas; the other is often kiddingly called Fox.

Cartridges used are Create a Critter (for the panda and the phrase), Give a Hoot (for the fox, flower, and the paw border) and Life is a Beach (for bamboo).
Panda: 2'', Happy birthday: 1''
Bamboo: 3''
Fox: 2'', flower bush: 2''
Have a happy birthday: My Pink Stamper
The panda card mat was embossed with Seeing the Spots folder; the fox card mat, Spots and Dots.

TFL.

A crab card

I made this for one of my friends' 3-year-old son who is in the hospital for a serious illness. I intended to make a whale card with the phrase Get Whale Soon, but the sentiment stamp sets are on their way to reach me. I changed to this with hope that he will get to play with his friends soon.

The crab is from Create a Critter, cut at 2''3/4, the phrase at 1''. The water border was cut using Give a Hoot cartridge.

TFL.

More embossing: A berry sweet card

I seem to have been addicted to embossing!!! Have wanted to tried it on every card I made recently. Here's one of them.

The cartridge used is Simply Charmed. The strawberry bowl was cut at 2''3/4, the phrase at 1''. I used the feature of shadow for all. Should have used a white marker to make some white dots on the strawberries to make them distinguishable, but the order is reaching me though.

The strawberries were embossed with Swiss Dots, the bowl with D'vine Swirl and the card base with Birds & Swirls.

TFL.

MPS challenge

I made this card to enter My Pink Stamper's challenge.She has 2 openings for her upcoming 2011 My Pink Stamper Design Team! The participants are required to make a card, scrapbook page, or other Cricut project with your favorite cartridge using her favorite colors

Pink

GreenBrown(other optional color of your choice) I am not ambitious to be one of the members on her design team. I just enjoy challenges where I can see other people's great work.
Here's my card.

First, it took me a long time to do the hand stitching (the yellow zigzag in the middle) because this is the first time I have ever done the stitching on paper. The flowers are from Plantin Schoolbook, cut at 1''1/2, 1''1/4 and 1'' and layered. I embossed the phrase With love which is not clearly shown.

To be honest, I am not very happy with the result. I should have embossed the whole triangle green half instead of embossing only a wavy border line paralleling with the hand-stitched line (the wavy was actually debossed because I misplaced the folder lol).

I still used the card to enter the challenge although the details and design are simple and basic. The ultimate purpose is to learn, to get experience and to connect with friends.

Thank you all for looking.